Marubeni cuts exposure to Russia as it writes down stake in Sakhalin-1 project

div classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodivpTOKYO Reuters – Japanese trading house Marubeni Corp said on Friday it had cut its exposure to Russia by 12.6 billion yen 97 million in the year just ended, mainly by writing down its stake in the countrys Sakhalin1 oil project.p

pIts net exposure to Russia, including longterm credit, fixed assets and investments, was reduced to 12.3 billion yen as of the end of March, from 24.9 billion yen a year earlier, the company said.pdivdivdiv classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodiv

p“Most of the reduction in exposure comes from the trimmed valuation of our stake in the Sakhalin Oil and Gas Development SODECO,” Marubeni Chief Executive Officer Masumi Kakinoki told a news conference, saying it had factored in lower prices of Russian oil amid the deepening Ukraine crisis.p

pMarubeni owns a 12.3 stake in SODECO, a Japanese consortium that owns 30 of the Sakhalin1 project, from which Exxon Mobil Corp is pulling out.p

pMarubeni will keep its stake in Sakhalin1 in accordance with Japanese government policy, although it wants to withdraw due to the war situation, Kakinoki said. p

p“Russia accounts for less than 0.5 of our total overseas exposure at 2.7 trillion yen … there will be no major hindrance even if problems occur in the full amount of our Russian exposure,” he said. p

pMarubeni said in April it would freeze all new transactions in Russia, including those not subject to sanctions, and seek to terminate existing deals as much as possible.p

pKakinoki reiterated Marubeni had no plans to invest in new energy projects in Russia.p

p1 130.4300 yenp

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pp Reporting by Yuka Obayashi and Shinji Kitamura Editing by Mark Potterp

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